Economic Revitalization
Tracking downtown revitalization
Since the onset of COVID-19, DSA has been tracking the impact on our local economy. As downtown bounces back, we continue to follow dozens of metrics to trace the path to full economic recovery. A few of these metrics are below.
Downtown Revitalization Dashboard
January 2026 (December 2025 data)
As downtown Seattle’s revitalization continues, DSA will publish a monthly dashboard update examining key metrics that affect our urban core’s vitality and progress. The data sets provide a comparison point to the same period in 2019. Additionally, the dashboard will feature notable stories that provide context regarding downtown’s renewal and reemergence.
Please credit the Downtown Seattle Association Revitalization Dashboard for use of charts, data and images on this page.
Unique monthly visitors compared to 2019
More than 2.8 million unique visitors came downtown in December 2025. This represents 97% of the visitors seen in December 2019 and a 5% decrease from December 2024.
Average weekday worker foot traffic
In December, downtown’s worker foot traffic was 60% of December 2019’s daily average.
Monthly hotel rooms sold compared to 2019
More than 235,000 downtown hotel rooms were sold in December 2025. This figure represents 78% of the demand in December 2019, and an 8% decrease in demand compared to December 2024.
Quarterly
In December, the number of occupied apartment units downtown continued growing, rising to nearly 60,800. This represents a 3% increase compared to Q4 2024 and a 20% increase compared to Q4 2019.
Of Note in Downtown
More local visitors (those living within 10 miles of downtown) came downtown in December than any other month in 2025. This represents a 3% increase over December 2024.
The DSA/MID Public Realm Operations Team was responsible for 47 events, activations or installations during the holidays in downtown. This includes the inaugural Pines on Pike Tree Lot that sold 123 Christmas trees.
As previously reported, an estimated 16,000 revelers attended the DSA Tree Lighting Celebration on Nov. 28. Using the Datafy platform, we’re able to measure that the event produced an economic impact approaching an estimated $500,000 that day.
Coming Up in Downtown
A trip to the Super Bowl is on the line when the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams clash for the NFC championship on Sunday, Jan. 25. It’s been 11 years since the Seahawks hosted the conference title game.
The largest boat show on the West Coast is expected to bring more than 50,000 attendees to the Lumen Field Event Center. From Jan. 30–Feb. 7 there will be more than 280 exhibitors and 800 boats on display.
The timeless tale of Cinderella takes the stage for the Pacific Northwest Ballet at McCaw Hall from Jan. 30–Feb. 8. The Seattle Times calls the show “warm and joyous and deeply moving.”
Notes on Sources
Datafy measures consumer spending by analyzing a cross‑section of credit and debit card transactions and cell phone location data.
Downtown foot traffic data are provided by Placer.ai and are based on cell phone location data. Each person is counted once per day. International visitors are not included. Subsets of this data in the charts are as follows:
- Office worker presence is estimated based on visits by workers who were present between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays in downtown Seattle.*
- Hotel data are based on monthly reports from STR, provided by Visit Seattle.
- Apartment occupancy data are from CoStar. This is reported quarterly but the current quarter data are updated in real-time as new information is added to the database.
- Domestic visitors counts those who do not live or work downtown.
- Total foot traffic includes all visits to downtown by domestic visitors, residents and workers.
- Pike Place Market visitors includes domestic visitors who do not live or work at the Pike Place Market.
*Note that workers who have not visited their work site in the past 90 days are classified as “visitors” until they are regularly visiting their work site at least three times in a one-week period.